I know, he’s dead. But that’s no reason not to celebrate his life! Especially because Dev himself seems like someone who was always down for a celebration. So, here are 12 random reasons to celebrate! (this is an updated and reposted post from last year)

Happy Jab Harry Met Sejal Week! I always get a scattering of complaints when I do theme weeks like this. Which might be my fault, because I don’t make it clear why I am doing this and what it really is (not just fangirling over a new big release). And I know I have a lot of new readers now, so I am going to quickly explain why there is this thusness before moving on in the post.

I finished Guide-the-Book! It was a good book in general, and an easy read, I recommend it. But it was really really really interesting to read it in partnership with the film. There were so many things that had to be changed to make a film version work, and they all revolved around Waheeda’s character.

(This was not posted yesterday as usual because of this) Only 2 days left until Badrinath comes out! I am all excited, and also trying to figure out my viewing strategy. Friday night viewing will be me and my regular Friday friend. And maybe also two other people. Even 3 more is fine, but more than that and I ran out of car space. Maybe we can tie some more folks onto the roof? Or I can run a shuttle system to bring them in shifts?

Guide part 3! This is what happens when I write about Great Movies, I just go on and on and don’t know how to stop (16 parts into DDLJ, by the way, and not even to intermission). But I am going to be firm with myself this time and try to keep it down to just 3 parts. Especially because, unlike DDLJ, this isn’t a movie all my readers will necessarily have seen. (part 1 gives no plot details of the film, just background on the pre-production, part 2 starts with a general discussion of the style and techniques of the film before getting into plot. Read them both before you read this, because I will be referring back!)

Yesterday I did an in depth post on the whole behind the scenes process of making Guide and who all the personalities involved where and what their background was and so on and so on (not including the Murder and Sex Cult part of the Anand brothers’ story, because those hadn’t happened yet). I wanted to say aaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllll of that before I got into discussing the actual film. Which is what I will do now, only I will be referring back to stuff from the other post, so read this first!

As you know, if you read my blog regularly, I went on a trip recently. And I decided the perfect time to finally watch Guide was on my smartphone on the flight. And it was perfect! I had no other options, so I couldn’t put it off any longer. And I was able to watch it with intense focus, since I was holding the screen right up at the end of my nose. And this was a film that really really really deserved close watching! And close analysis, which is why I am starting with a post that just gives background before I even talk about the film itself.